The short answer
Choose a monitoring company on how it handles an activation, not on its brochure. Ask who actually answers — their own operators or an outsourced centre — how every signal is assessed, what happens when your contacts do not pick up, which standards the centre and your installer work to (and ask to see the certificates), what response it can send, and how your site would be protected if the company itself stopped trading.
Who actually answers?
Some monitoring brands run their own control room; others resell a third party’s. Neither is wrong, but you should know which, because the people who answer are the service. Ask where the control room is, whether it is staffed around the clock, and whether the operators who watch your site know it.
How is an activation handled?
- Is every activation assessed by an operator before anyone is called, or does it go straight down a call list?
- What does the operator have in front of them — live cameras, audio, a written profile of your site?
- Can they challenge an intruder through site speakers?
- What happens when nobody on your contact list answers? There should be an agreed point at which they stop calling and act.
Standards and certificates
Monitoring and installation are covered by British and European standards — for example BS EN 50518 for monitoring and alarm receiving centres, and BS 8418 for detector-activated remotely monitored CCTV. Which ones matter depends on your site, your insurer and whether you need a police response. Ask both the monitoring company and your installer which standards they work to, ask to see current certificates, and check them with the issuing inspectorate. A company that is vague here is telling you something.
Response
Monitoring tells someone that something is wrong; response is who turns up. Ask whether the company has its own keyholding and response teams near your site, uses partners, or relies on your own keyholders — and how long attendance realistically takes.
What if they go bust?
When a monitoring company fails, its customers can be left unmonitored without knowing it. Ask how long the company has been trading, look it up on Companies House, and keep your own copy of your site profile, contact list and panel details so you could move quickly. Our guide to what to do if your monitoring company goes bust covers the worst case.
Before you sign
- A written site profile and escalation ladder, agreed with you.
- End-to-end testing before the site goes live.
- Regular reports, and a review of false alarms rather than silence about them.
- Clear contract terms, notice periods and what happens to your data when you leave.
Our own process is set out in how a site is set up.
Talk it through with us
Every site is different. Tell us about yours and we will tell you plainly what we would do.